


A Loaded Smile

by Raine_Wynd



Series: Nick's Troubles [2]
Category: Highlander: The Raven, Highlander: The Series
Genre: Drama, M/M, Post-Canon, Romance, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-09
Updated: 2012-10-09
Packaged: 2017-11-15 23:11:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/532812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raine_Wynd/pseuds/Raine_Wynd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What's a once burned, twice shy man to do when a charming thief wants his heart? Tread carefully, and watch out for that loaded smile, of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_September 2012_

Cory studied the rusted motorcycle with a critical eye. It was clear that Nick had stumbled across a bike with potential, but how much of it was actually salvageable was debatable. Bullet holes pockmarked the frame, and made Cory remember some of his own escapades.

"What do you think?"

"How'd you get it?"

"Friend of mine found it on his grandparents' farm north of here. The shed it was in was collapsing around it; that's how the frame ended up rusted. I've spent the last few years getting quotes on restoring it, but everyone's been telling me I'd be better off just junking it."

Cory looked at Nick. "Hate to say it, but they're right. You'd have to get new steel for the frame, and do a lot of work to the engine to get it running again. See this here? That's a bent fork. I'll bet anything that the engine is riddled with bullet holes, too. At that point, you're looking at a full restoration, and as good as the work you did on your Harley looks, this is going to need a fully equipped garage."

Nick sighed. "Rich said the same thing when he looked at it a few years ago. I just…"

"Needed an excuse to come back?" Cory asked with a grin. "You could probably still sell it to somebody."

"Nobody's gonna buy it looking like this."

Cory grinned. "Watch and learn, my friend, watch and learn."

To Nick's surprise, within an hour, Cory had a real estate auction house interested in what Cory billed as "possibly belonging to a minor Prohibition-era gangster, in need of some TLC."

"That was creative," Nick said admiringly.

"Well, it looks like a bike I had once," the immortal bank robber admitted with a shrug. "I did ditch a few around this part of the country around then."

Nick groaned. "I shouldn't have asked." He paused. "So when is the buyer coming out?"

"In a half hour, she said," Cory replied, following Nick back into the house. "Did you still want to go to that motorcycle shop?"

"We can do that after," Nick agreed.

Half an hour later, Nick stood in the doorway of his garage and watched a master at work. Cory spun a tale of a story told by his grandfather about the bike, sounding real enough that Nick knew that at least part of the story was from Cory's life. By the time the auction house buyer left, Nick had not only a signed consignment to sell the item at far more than Nick thought it was worth, but the rusty, broken bike was out of Nick's garage and being hauled to the auction house's storage unit. It didn't hurt Cory's story that his vintage British touring motorcycle was currently parked in Nick's driveway, or that Nick's other motorcycle was a 1970s-era Harley he'd restored.

When the buyer and the bike were gone and they were the only ones standing in the alley behind Nick's house, Nick walked over to where Cory stood, grinning, and kissed him. Cory accepted the kiss, but didn't take it any further.

Surprised at the response, Nick stepped back. "I thought you were interested," Nick said warily.

"I am," Cory agreed solemnly. "But I don't want you thinking you mixed gratitude up with how you feel."

Eyes narrowing, Nick started to say something before visibly reconsidering. "Why?" he settled finally.

Cory smiled. "I don't want you to have any reservations about us," he said. "You've had a lot happen to you in the last month. When you're sure it's me you want, and not just any warm body –"

"If I wanted that, I wouldn't have called you."

Cory conceded the point with an incline of his head. "We could go upstairs right now and have a great time," he allowed. "And in a few days, you'd find some reason to send me on my way, and I'd have lost any chance I ever had at being the guy you want to keep around. I'm not Rich, willing to take whatever love he finds in the moment. As fun as that can be, it gets old."

Startled, Nick stared at the older man. "I was hoping to go with the moment."

"Oh, we will," Cory promised. "But I'll wait until you're not confusing me with any other thief you've ever known. I'm not Amanda, who steals hearts for fun and flattery."

Nick considered him a long, wordless moment. "You know her well, then."

"We've been friends for centuries, and sometimes she's been my partner and my lover as well. I know she's a serial monogamist, but she can't stay put with one person for too long; it's not her nature. She lives for the thrill of a good heist; anything or anyone else tends to come second."

"Why aren't you with her?" Nick knew his reasons, but he wanted to hear Cory's. Nick had often thought that a fellow thief would be perfect for Amanda; meeting one who shared a past with her but wasn't with her now intrigued him.

Cory shrugged. "Last few centuries, I've had to compete with Duncan Macleod for her attention, and I decided it wasn't worth the effort. Besides, I've been busy." He shrugged again. "It's not fair to the person I'm with if I can't devote my attention to them, at least when I am with them. Robberies take travel these days." He smiled at Nick's look of confusion. "What, you expected less?"

Nick started to shake his head, then stopped himself. "Every time I think I understand you, you throw me another curveball. Still want to go to the motorcycle store?"

"Sure," Cory agreed. "Want to ride there?"

Nick grinned. "I thought you'd never ask," he said.

* * *

Nick didn't know what to think. He'd thought that if he made the first move, Cory would follow, but Cory had turned him down. That wasn't the way this was supposed to go. It wasn't enough to kiss Cory? What happened to spontaneous passion? Nick had been so sure that all Cory wanted from him was some no-strings-attached sex.

Now, Nick understood that what Cory wanted was nothing less than everything, no hesitation, no excuses. He wasn't sure he could give that. His track record for long-term relationships wasn't good: an ex-wife who'd died just as they'd started getting closer again; three tumultuous years with Amanda; an intense six months with a man Nick had fallen hard for, only to discover the guy wasn't ready to commit to something more permanent. Rich's friends-with-benefits arrangement had been the perfect compromise in Nick's eyes. For the remainder of the afternoon, as they drooled over brand-new bikes and motorcycle clothing with Kevlar reinforcements, Nick considered what Cory had said.

"Why me and why now?" Nick finally asked him when they had returned and stood in his living room. "Surely there are other people –"

"Other people aren't you," Cory interrupted. "You won't take flattery, Nick, so I'm not going to give it to you; you wouldn't believe me anyway. Not right now."

Nick stared at him, taken aback by the insight.

Giving in to impulse, Cory leaned forward and kissed him lightly. "I want you, Nick, make no mistake about that. You intrigue me. I want to know more. But you're standing there, waiting for me to give you that one piece of evidence to show that you shouldn't have trusted me at all."

Uncomfortable at how well Cory saw through him, Nick walked a short distance away before turning. "You're asking me to give you a chance at my heart."

"Yes," Cory agreed.

Nick closed his eyes briefly, mouth compressing in remembered pain. "And here I thought you just wanted fun."

"Fun is fleeting," Cory told him, closing the distance between them. "I've had centuries of fun, but that doesn't mean I don't stop occasionally and get serious. Taking a chance on love is one of the best reasons to be serious and still have a good time. Why are you so afraid of letting yourself fall in love?"

Nick didn't answer. He wasn't sure he had a good one, not with the way Cory was seeing through the excuses Rich had readily accepted. Instead, he headed into the L-shaped kitchen. "I was going to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. That okay with you?"

"Only if you answer my question first."

Nick banged the pot he'd pulled out of a cabinet onto the counter. "Because I'm sick of having my heart ripped to shreds, that's why. I figured we'd collaborate on that motorcycle and have some fun sex. If what I have to offer you isn't enough, then you can go back to wherever the fuck you call home and find someone else."

Not surprised by the reaction, Cory leaned against the side wall of the kitchen. "And miss out on figuring out what else we could be doing besides have sex?" he asked with a grin, spreading his hands wide.

Caught off guard by that, Nick goggled at him a minute before laughing ruefully. "Just for that, you're chopping the onion, the bell peppers, and the garlic for the sauce."

Cory smiled. He knew he was falling hard and fast for the ex-cop, and Nick's brand of humor was part of the attraction. "Where do you keep them?"

"Pantry's the closet to the right of the fridge," Nick told him. "I need one large onion, three cloves of garlic, and the peppers are in the fridge."

The kitchen wasn't large, but it was big enough for two people to work in, provided they didn't mind somewhat close quarters. The lack of counter space was offset by a rolling island, which Nick quickly cleared and sanitized for Cory's use before pulling a chopping board from a cabinet and putting it on the island. From the way Nick pulled ingredients from the pantry and opened cans, it was clear to Cory that the recipe was one Nick had memorized a long time ago.

"So where'd you learn to cook?" Cory asked as he dealt with the onion.

Nick chuckled. "My ex-wife thought we needed to do something together – something a friend of hers swore saved her marriage – so we took a few cooking classes together." He shrugged. "Didn't really work out that way for us, but I learned a few things I wish I'd known when I was in college and scraping by on a scholarship. You're a good cook, in case I didn't make that clear when I was at your place."

"Thanks. I still haven't quite mastered a microwave, but a gas stove hasn't been that much of a problem to learn." Cory dumped the onion in the bowl Nick handed him, then started in on the bell peppers.

"How do you cope with changes like that?" Nick wondered. "I can't imagine going from campfires to microwaves in one lifetime." He set the now-opened can of stewed tomatoes on the side of the stove, then grabbed a bottle of olive oil. Pouring the oil in the pot, he turned on the burner underneath the pot.

"You find friends who are willing to teach you, or you try on your own until you figure it out," Cory told him. "Or you read the manual and hope like crazy you haven't misunderstood the language. That's the harder part – remembering what the right meaning for a word is. Hanging around Rich caught me up a bit more with current slang." Cory laughed ruefully. "He asked me if I'd talked to anyone since 1920, since I was apparently out of date, at least with some of the words I was using." Finished with the bell peppers, Cory quickly chopped the garlic. "Do you want the garlic separate?"

"No. Here, put it all in this bowl." Nick handed him a hastily obtained bowl, then dumped the lot into the pot. As he stirred the mess, Nick asked, "Is that part of the reason why you've stuck to being a bank robber, because it doesn't change that much?"

Cory loved how quick Nick's mind was. "Part of it, yes. Mostly, it's because I've tried being other things, and I keep coming back to what I do well."

"What other things?"

Cory grinned as he went to wash the knife and chopping board he'd used. "Mostly security or short-term jobs so I could learn something new. I was curious about car manufacturing and worked the line in a factory for three months. Fell in love with cars as a result. Before that, I thought they were just too complicated to operate – I could saddle a horse faster than crank that damned engine."

"I have a hard time imagining the things you've seen," Nick said as he started dumping cans of tomato sauce, tomato paste, and the stewed tomatoes into the pot. To the mix, he added Italian seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, salt, sugar, water, and a package of frozen meatballs, before stirring the contents and turning down the heat. "Then again, when I was a kid, I was promised flying cars by the time I became an adult. I'm still waiting."

Cory laughed and put the now-clean knife in the dish drainer. "When the king's men put the hangman's rope on me, I wasn't thinking of the world beyond Nottingham. I didn't even know there was one. Matthew took me to Ireland to train me because it wasn't safe for me in England anymore, and I thought he'd taken me to the end of the world." He shrugged. "I heard someone say that when you stop learning, that's when you start dying. And there are a few flying cars out there."

"True," Nick agreed. "I saw one at a car show in Paris a few years ago." He stirred the sauce before putting a lid on the pot. "That needs to simmer a while," he said. He set the timer on the stove to half an hour. His eyes gleamed as he asked, "So what do you want to do next?"

Cory soaped the chopping board and rinsed it clean before putting it in the dish drainer. "You play poker?"

"Do you cheat at cards?" Amusement danced in Nick's eyes. "I noticed the marks on the deck of cards you handed me while my sight was gone."

Cory smothered a laugh and assumed his most serious look. "You say the funniest things."

Nick laughed. "I'll take that as a yes." He pulled a pack of cards out from a drawer. "Let's see how well I do against you."

Four hands later, Cory discovered he was playing against a fellow card shark, which amused him to no end. Nick could bluff well, no doubt a credit to his years as a cop, but Cory spotted Nick's tell after a few hands, and started to clean up.

"What gave me away?" Nick demanded quietly when the timer on the stove sounded, effectively signaling the last hand.

"Your posture. You try a little too hard to be relaxed," Cory told him as Nick rose to check on the sauce.

Nick stirred the sauce, tasted it, added more black pepper, and then started to heat a second pot of water for the pasta. "So what's the trick to not having a tell?"

"Practice," Cory said with a slight shrug. "But you have to draw the line somewhere, or else you lose your ability to show emotions and be seen as genuine."

"I couldn't do undercover for long because of that," Nick remarked. "I'd forgotten it could apply to poker as well."

"You don't allow poker at Sanctuary?"

Nick shook his head. "Someone suggested it to me once, but it can get pretty wild just having a full bar and a dance floor."

"So you're out of practice. That's number two: play poker, after 'cook together.'"

Nick turned to look at Cory incredulously. "You're keeping a list of what we're doing besides sex?"

Cory grinned. "I don't want you thinking I'm not paying attention," he offered huskily.

Nick inhaled sharply, leaving Cory no doubt that the other man liked the sound of his voice in that register. "Oh, I know you are," Nick returned evenly. He opened a box of spaghetti and poured half the container into the pot of water. Mindful to push the stray ends of pasta under the water, he was silent a moment before he turned to face Cory. "I just wonder what the payoff for you is now."

"Is having another friend such a hardship, Nick?"

Nick focused his attention on the stove, scooping a bit of pasta water into the sauce and stirring both pots.

"Or is it just too soon, after everything that happened last month?"

Nick used the excuse of needing to fetch a colander and put it in the sink before he spoke. "A little bit, but it's more that I look at you, hear what you're saying, and I start thinking I can have things I don't think I should."

Cory's eyes narrowed. "Why shouldn't you?"

Nick checked a noodle to see if it was cooked, then turned the burner off under that pot. He took the pot over to the colander in the sink to drain. "I don't think I can afford the cost. Do you want the sauce mixed with the noodles or just on top?"

 _Rich wasn't kidding when he said Nick was terrified of falling in love_ , Cory thought. "Mixed in is fine," he said aloud. His heart ached at the idea of Nick going through the rest of his life with that fear; Nick wouldn't last long, and Cory very much wanted Nick alive, preferably by his side. A change in tactics was in order, he thought.


	2. Chapter 2

"So how goes the motorcycle rebuilding?" Rich asked cheerfully the following day. Cory had left Nick a note saying he was headed to church, and Nick had taken the opportunity to return his friend's call from the day before. Both men preferred to Skype, a legacy of the years Rich spent Stateside while Nick was in Paris, since Skype was cheaper than long distance.

"Cory agreed with you. He found a buyer for it." Nick leaned back on the couch, enjoying the video chat on his laptop. "That's a really tiny apartment, Rich. Can you even fit two people in that space?"

Rich grinned. "On the bed, sure. Bathroom, definitely not."

Nick rolled his eyes at Rich's priorities.

At that look, Rich shook his head. "It's a studio, Nick. I don't need much, but –" Rich took his phone and showed the waterfront view off the balcony, which was stunning. "That makes it worth it, and motorcycle parking's free."

"Awesome," Nick said sincerely as Rich returned the view to himself and sat down on his bed. "Why didn't you warn me about Cory?"

Rich laughed. "I never got a warning when I met him," he said, grinning, then he sobered at Nick's glare. "What's the problem? He's good looking, got a good heart, and he's seriously interested in you. As in, I don't think I've seen him that serious about anyone in, well, ever. You grabbed his attention big time."

"I'm supposed to believe everything he says? He's a thief."

Rich rolled his eyes and sighed impatiently. "Nick, newsflash, but I'm one too. What the hell do you think I've been doing with Cory the last three years? I learned to be a better thief from him. Yeah, we were going through and making sure the Watchers weren't grooming another generation of Hunters, but I needed someone who was willing to take a crazy risk like that, who had the skills to pull it off. The only one of us who I knew I could rely on was Cory – even Amanda called him a pro."

That made Nick pause. He'd seen Rich several times over the past three years, and Rich had never lied about the project he'd given himself, or that he was getting help from another immortal. He just had been careful not to give Nick a name – not until the project was as finished as it could be. Then, and only then, had he introduced Cory as his partner.

"Besides," Rich went on, "I know you've helped Amanda acquire some things."

"That was a mistake," Nick muttered, remembering how she'd taken his willingness to help to an extreme.

Seeing Nick's expression, Rich sighed, annoyed. "Damn it, Nick, you need to let go of what Amanda did to you; it's poisoning your chances at happiness. You were doing much better when I talked to you before you left Paris. Hell, I was sure you were pretty much over what Amanda and that idiot Paul did to you. Did the Quickening you took reset your attitude?" 

Startled, Nick looked at the younger man before remembering that Rich – enthusiastic, charming, and usually happy – had his own struggles with finding forgiveness for someone he'd trusted unequivocally. The fact that Rich was currently in Seacouver, helping Duncan, was testament to Rich's willingness to try again.

Nick closed his eyes briefly. "A little bit," he admitted. "You don't know what it's like to have someone eight hundred years old trying to win from the inside."

"Actually, I do," Rich said tightly, crossing his arms. "My first Quickening was like that. It didn't help that I'd blown off most of what Duncan had said about needing to focus."

Nick stared at him, abruptly reminded that Rich had more years of experience in the Game though he was chronologically younger than Nick, and Rich had never talked completely about what had happened. Nick knew about Duncan's Dark Quickening, but only because Rich had had a nightmare about it one night.

Rich sighed and ran a hand through his short-cropped reddish-brown hair. "Look, I hate pulling out the 'I'm more experienced than you' card, but trust me, my first three years as an immortal sucked. If those years taught me anything, it's that you have choices. You can keep acting as if you're a cop, or you can get out of that damned mindset. It's not who you are now."

Nick snorted and shook his head. "You think it's that easy? Rich, that bastard wanted my body. I had to default back to the person I used to be, back when I was training with Matthew. It was the only way Kyree would shut up."

"But you've won, and it's been weeks now," Rich pointed out. "You don't have to be that guy anymore. You choose what of Kyree's power to keep. From what I saw in his journals, he had a shitty attitude about everyone who didn't meet his needs. Do you want to keep letting him influence you?"

"No."

Rich glared at Nick. "Then stop being so damned black and white about what Cory does for a living. You couldn't arrest him without a badge anyway, and you're not that asshole Kyree."

Nick laughed ruefully at that. "Point."

"So quit beating yourself up over the past, quit allowing that damned Quickening to influence you, and let someone love you, Nick. You wouldn't let me if I'd tried, and I knew that going in."

"You…" Blindsided by that knowledge, Nick couldn't speak and swallowed hard. "Rich, I'm sorry."

"I'm not," Rich said with an easy smile as he leaned back. "You made Paris a place I wanted to be again, and I needed that. I wanted exactly what you gave me, Nick, and I have no regrets." He narrowed his eyes. "I will, however, kick your ass if you keep thinking that just because Cory's a thief, he's someone you shouldn't love. I wouldn't have introduced you to him if I didn't think he was someone worth knowing." Gently, Rich added, "Give him a chance, Nick. You might be surprised. Aside from that: I've never seen Cory look at anyone the way he looks at you. If he hasn't gotten you into bed by now, it's because he wants you for longer than a quick fuck."

"That's what scares me." 

Rich grinned wickedly. "What, that he wants you in bed? Can't say I blame him for that." Rich's eyes gleamed with intimate knowledge, and Nick breathed carefully. He'd seen that look before, and knew it was often the prelude to them having sex.

"Not helping," Nick managed. 

His sometime lover chuckled. "If you weren't halfway interested, Nick, you'd have never invited him to your place. Come on, my friend. Live a little and go with the flow. That's what you were planning to do anyway, wasn't it? It's not like getting that motorcycle restored was on any kind of deadline. If it was, you'd have gotten it done three years ago when I came back from Paris with you." He paused, then added, "If nothing else, Cory's a good friend to have. He's been more honest with you than I've seen him be with someone he just met – and he hasn't tried to play jokes on you yet. Or has he?"

Nick blew out a breath. Rich's insight was making him reevaluate everything. "He tried to pull one on me when we were touring Old Alexandria, but it backfired on him. What did he do to you?"

"Ran me off the road twice when we first met," Rich said, shaking his head at the memory. "Of course, I thought he'd kidnapped Amanda, but you can't kidnap the willing. Cory thought it was just hilarious. In hindsight, it is pretty funny, but at the time, I was just pissed off."

Nick shook his head. "Somehow, I can see that." He paused. "You're a good friend, Rich. Thanks."

Rich smiled. "You're welcome. Tell Cory I said hi. I need to get going or else I'm going to be late."

"Late for what?"

"My favorite barista comes on shift in ten minutes," Rich told him with a grin. "It'll take me that long to walk down there."

Nick laughed helplessly at Rich's predictable fascination. "Good luck."

Rich grinned and disconnected from the video call. 

Needing something to do while he thought, Nick decided to do a bit of house cleaning. Cory still hadn't returned from church when Nick finished, so Nick made a grocery list, adding items he remembered Cory used from the week he'd spent recovering from being kidnapped, tortured, and forced to take a Quickening. He was frowning over it, trying to remember if he'd tasted curry spices, when he felt an immortal near. Automatically, Nick reached for his sword and went to check the door.

A sharp set of knocks, which Nick immediately recognized as "shave and a haircut," followed. Peering through the peephole, Nick saw Cory standing on his doorstep, and unlocked the door.

"You left off the 'two bits' part," Nick said.

Cory shrugged. "Haircut costs more these days. Were you planning on doing anything this afternoon?"

"Thought about grocery shopping and maybe seeing if there was a preseason football game on TV. Why?"

"Boys and Girls Club end of season baseball game this afternoon. Tickets are five dollars. We can get groceries afterwards."

Nick considered it, and realized he had no excuse not to go. "Let me grab my car keys."

To his surprise, the game was more fun than he'd anticipated. Between the teenagers' obvious enthusiasm for the game itself, the unexpected prowess of one of the pitchers, an amazing line drive that managed to load the bases, and Cory's commentary, Nick had a great time. 

"So was this the first amateur baseball game you've seen?" Cory wondered as they walked to Nick's SUV. 

Nick shook his head. "No, my partner's son was in Little League when she died. I was helping him learn to be a better player." Old regret and grief welled in Nick a moment.

Cory looked sympathetic as he asked, "Did you get a chance to help him after your partner died?"

Nick shook his head again. "No, her husband blamed me for her death, and wouldn't allow me around either of their kids anymore. Sometimes I think about looking them up, making sure they grew up okay, and then I tell myself it's probably better I stayed out of their lives." 

Understanding, Cory asked, "So how much did you contribute anonymously to their college fund?"

Nick chuckled as he realized that was exactly the sort of thing Cory would do. "A few thousand each," he admitted. "Not enough to pay for everything, but something to offset it a little and they wouldn't necessarily come looking for me. I went to college on a football scholarship, blew out my knee, and then went to the police academy on my own dime a few years later, so I know it's not cheap."

Cory grinned approvingly, and to Nick's relief, changed the subject slightly. "Where did you go to college?"

"Stanford," Nick said. "When it was obvious that I wasn't going to be able to afford to keep going, I took a job as a deckhand on a tanker bound for Marseilles. Had this notion I was going to be sailing the seas, like a pirate."

Cory laughed. "I had that notion once, too," he admitted. "I thought being seasick on my first trip on a ship was just a fluke." 

"Oh, no," Nick said sympathetically. "Was your captain understanding?"

"Not really," Cory said ruefully. "I learned eventually how to deal with it, but sailing is still not my favorite mode of travel." 

"There were a few days when we sailed through storms when it wasn't mine either," Nick noted. 

Cory laughed. "I hated those kinds of days worse," he agreed. "Since I’m sure you're wondering: yes, I've gone to college a few times. I'm still not fond of being in a classroom."

"Somehow," Nick mused, "I can see you being the class clown."

Cory grinned. "I might've been that once or twice," he agreed, and Nick chuckled. "Where did you want to go get groceries?"

Shopping for groceries together turned out to be interesting as well. Cory had definite opinions on fresh produce and dairy, and convinced Nick to turn his SUV in the direction of the historic farmer's market instead of the supermarket. Having grown up in the city and then been away for so many years, Nick had forgotten the place existed; he'd never shopped there. It was a revelation.

The open-air market had a few permanent booths, with one produce vendor advertising that they were open all year. Cory passed them by, leaving Nick looking bewildered.

"What's wrong with them?" Nick asked, quickly catching up to Cory.

"They're not local," Cory said. "You shopped in Paris, come on."

"Honestly, I forgot this was here, and my mom never went here," Nick excused himself, then stopped, his eyes going wide. "There's a butcher here?"

Cory chuckled. "Carnivore," he teased. "I saw some good vegetables and fruit at the stand down farther; we'll come back for the meat."

"Oh man, I thought I was going to have to just live without a good butcher." He stopped again, and Cory laughed at the younger man's expression. "Dairy too?" He turned to Cory. "You didn't just go to church for the service. You wanted to find out where to shop, too."

"I'm a farmer's son, Nick, and this sort of thing supports local farmers. Did you want to check out the craft stalls, too, since you haven't been here?"

"I am not buying a wreath to hang on my door," Nick warned. "And since I suspect you're like Rich in taking that sort of statement to be a dare, I'm going to clarify: that was not a challenge to see if you can make me."

Cory just laughed. "We'll see."

Forty-five minutes and some serious lessons in haggling later, Nick and Cory returned to the car with a cooler full of meat, milk, and yogurt, several bags' worth of produce, and one handmade Halloween wreath.

"Don't. Say. Anything," Nick warned as he put the wreath in the back of his SUV.

Cory held up his hands, the picture of innocence. "All I was going to say is that it's a very lovely wreath, the perfect thing to scare the ghosts and goblins away." His lips twitched, clearly fighting a grin.

Nick stared at him, then reluctantly laughed. "You were not helping, Cory. I was expecting you to defend me, and you just kept agreeing with that saleswoman!"

Cory let the grin loose. "Of course I did. She was so busy defending our right to be together, I wasn't going to argue about a Halloween wreath that you clearly need." Cory added, "Nice picture of her grandson and his husband, too. Right where she can pull it out and show it to other voters."

Nick shook his head and shut the SUV's rear hatch. From previous conversations, he knew that Cory was a passionate supporter of civil rights and didn't want to ruin the mood with a serious discussion. Instead, he stepped forward to the driver's seat and got inside as Cory mirrored him. Dinner was going to be an intriguing event. He was looking forward to seeing what Cory did with Asian pears, ginger, and watermelon. More importantly, he'd decided he was going to see where their relationship went.


	3. Chapter 3

Mornings after breakfast, Nick went for a seven-mile run, then a workout at a gym. He hated running, but he'd trained as an athlete for too many years to abandon his conditioning entirely, and the implications of the Game were never far from his mind. Matthew had made him up his mileage, saying that two miles wasn't enough when safety was always in the wrong direction, uphill, and farther than planned. Cory joined him the morning after their trip to the farmer's market, and surprised him again by clearly loving to run.

Though Nick was an inch taller than Cory was, most of his height was in his torso, whereas Cory carried his height in his legs. Cory's slightly longer stride meant he outpaced Nick. For a moment, Nick let himself admire the man in motion, only to see Cory glance over his shoulder and grin wickedly, knowingly. 

It was going to be a long day. He increased his pace, remembering how Matthew had had the same easy, ground-eating stride, as if he could run for days and probably had. He didn't bother speaking when he caught up to Cory again; just put his focus on the run.

By week's end, Nick was pacing Cory comfortably. He enjoyed the fact that Cory didn't bother speaking during their runs except at stoplights and the like, and even then kept the conversation brief. After their runs, Cory would excuse himself to run some personal errand – one day, a trip to a food bank to volunteer, the next a visit to the post office to pick up a package he'd had shipped. He always told Nick where he was going, on the off chance Nick wanted to go with him, but Nick refused, believing that the man deserved some time alone. Dinner became a shared affair as they debated what to do what the bounty of the farmer's market, discovered they both shared a passion for cooking, and enjoyed the results.

On Saturday, Cory refused to take no for an answer. "You need to come with me," he said. "Not that I care much about the Game, but I know you do. When's the last time you practiced with your sword?"

"Right before I left Paris. I figured I'd look into a gym and seeing if I could reserve a private room."

Cory grinned. "I have something better."

That was how Nick found himself practicing his sword skills against the local Society for Creative Anachronism group in a park on a sunny, summer-in-September day. The method to Cory's madness was underhanded, sneaky, and effective, and Nick fell a bit more in love with him for it. Nick's house was too small in which to practice sword fighting, and his yard wasn't that much bigger. In Paris, Nick had the luxury of the top floor of Sanctuary to practice in, and he'd set it up accordingly.

Half an hour into the practice, the cops showed up because some of the more practiced members were actually using live steel instead wooden practice blades. Nick happened to be on the sidelines, taking a break and watching Cory fight two on one, when one of the officers approached.

"What's going on?" the officer asked, then did a double take. "Wolfe? What are you doing here?"

Nick quickly looked to see where the leader of the SCA group was and saw that he was busy preventing one of the kids from running into the field of battle. "Just practicing with some friends, Halloran."

Halloran looked suspicious. "For what? An invasion by zombies?" He laughed at his own joke. "We got a report of people fighting with swords."

"Hey, you never know." Out of the corner of his eye, Nick saw the SCA leader, Frank, approach. "Is there a problem with us being here?"

"Do you have a permit to do this in the park?"

Frank arrived just as Halloran asked the question. "We posted the permit on the traffic sign," Frank said, pointing. "And a warning of the danger for anyone not in the group." Frank dug into the back pocket of his jeans. "I have a copy here, in case someone's stolen the permit." He unfolded the paper and handed it to Halloran.

Halloran looked at it and harrumphed. "Says you have 'til one o'clock. Make sure you clean up when you're done." He eyed Nick as he handed the permit back to Frank, and Nick knew the veteran detective found his presence suspicious. "Mind if I have a word with you, Wolfe?"

It wasn't an invitation. "I'll be back," he promised Frank, who nodded. Nick followed Halloran over to the cruiser, where Halloran's female partner waited.

"Where's your girlfriend, Amanda?" Halloran demanded.

Nick laughed at the predictable question. "I have no idea. We broke up ten years ago. I'd have invited you to the party, but I didn't think you could afford the ticket to Paris."

"So what are you doing back here?"

"Apparently, getting hassled by cops like you. Just like the last time I was here. Thanks for making my welcome back complete, Halloran."

"You're a criminal, Wolfe. I know it and you know it."

"And we could have your badge for harassment," Frank interjected, coming up beside Nick. "Is this gentleman bothering you?"

Nick stared at Halloran until he looked away and got into his cruiser, telling his partner they needed to get moving. Nick waited until the cops had pulled away before looking at Frank. "Not anymore."

"What's his problem with you?" Frank asked. "I'm a defense attorney."

"I used to be a detective here," Nick said, reassessing the slightly heavyset man who looked like the stereotype of an aging hippie. "I took offense at some of the things I was being asked to do, so I left." He felt an arm slip around his waist and glanced over to see Cory stand beside him.

Frank's eyebrows rose slightly. "I see. Well, if you have any other problems, please let me know." Frank pulled out a business card and handed it to Nick. "I specialize in harassment cases."

Cory looked solemn as he replied, "Good to know," but Nick knew that tone of voice, knew Cory was laughing like a fiend on the inside.

Frank nodded, then headed back into the group and restarted the practice. Nick turned to look at Cory, who was now grinning. Nick decided to surprise him and kissed him, deliberately drawing out the kiss. Cory obliged him, making Nick wish suddenly they weren't in public, before reluctantly pulling back. "You have to tell me yes, Nick," he said huskily. "I don't want you to have regrets later. You're too important to me."

Nick stared at him, realizing again that Cory understood him better than he'd anticipated. He nodded slowly, accepting the terms. "I'll think about it," he told Cory, who didn't look surprised by that answer. 

After the practice ended, they wound up joining the group lunch at a nearby diner. Nick was grateful for the company; it meant he could focus a little less on the intense attraction he felt for Cory. The public kiss meant that Nick had to act as if they'd been together for a while, but that wasn't a hardship. Nick found he liked having the older man close, liked hearing him laugh and watching him pull people's stories out of them, all with the same easy charm Nick had initially distrusted. 

Though Nick had expected that Cory would pay attention to him, Nick hadn't expected how natural Cory made it seem. 

Cory remembered that Nick liked to season his dishes with black pepper and drew the shaker closer when Nick's food was delivered. Nick noticed that Cory included him on conversations that the other man thought warranted his input. In a thousand subtle ways, Cory let Nick know that he was just as aware of Nick as Nick was aware of him. More importantly in Nick's mind, Nick got the sense it wasn't just to bolster the fiction that they'd been together a while. 

Nick had almost forgotten what it felt like to have that kind of awareness focused on him. It was something of a relief to know that this Cory – the one who gave his job description as "I help the needy," and then deftly turned the conversation away from a focus on himself – was not putting on a show of attention just for the group's benefit. Some tension Nick hadn't been aware he'd had eased at the observation of Cory's behavior. 

Nick knew he'd missed that kind of attention. Unwilling to commit to a long-term relationship when he knew the risks involved, he'd deliberately avoided getting involved with someone for over two years. Nick's last attempt at something serious had been with a man named Paul who'd ultimately chosen his career over what Nick could give him.

Sitting next to Cory, Nick knew he wanted a long-term relationship, one with a shot at forever. He hadn't wanted to settle for less. All his hesitations came from not knowing how Cory would act, and Cory knew that. Nick's introspection made him a little quieter, but he kept up with the freewheeling conversations, not wanting to give the friendly group cause to worry.

He felt Cory squeeze his hand reassuringly, as if Cory had known exactly what was going through his mind, and glanced at Cory in inquiry.

Cory smiled, that loaded smile full of promise and mischief, and Nick knew Cory understood. Unable to resist, Nick dropped a quick kiss on Cory's lips before leaning over to whisper, "Thank you."

Cory's smile widened just as one of the women sitting across from them made a teasing remark. Still keeping his eyes on Nick, Cory responded, but Nick was more aware of the heat simmering between them. When the group started to break up after lunch, Nick glanced at Cory, silently asking him if he wanted to leave.

Cory nodded and they made their excuses. Unwilling to let his thoughts interfere with the good day they'd been having and equally unwilling to waste the rest of the afternoon sitting at home, Nick suggested they take their motorcycles through the city and out to the open farmlands surrounding it. Cory refused.

"No, you go. You need the time to think. I'll meet you back at your place for dinner at seven-thirty." Cory kissed him gently, then stepped back. "Be safe." Without a further word, he grabbed his helmet, mounted his motorcycle, and rode away.


	4. Chapter 4

Cory knew Nick needed time and proof, but he was rapidly edging towards frustration. He'd spent decades perfecting the art of keeping his entanglements light, but he'd found that when he fell for someone, he tended to fall hard, with often explosive results. He was used to wielding his charm and his skills to get what he wanted, but Nick was too important to him. Cory knew he had a weakness for strong-willed people, especially people who were unexpectedly vulnerable. Nick qualified in that category due to being kidnapped and tortured, but what had caught Cory's attention was Nick's strength in the wake of that fiasco. 

Even blind and recovering, Nick had retained good spirits, a sharp wit, and a fierce determination to be himself despite his temporary handicap. He'd proven to be as intelligent as Cory had first surmised him to be from their Skype conversation and from Rich's own recommendation. Nick's fascination for mythology and his knowledge of folklore had surprised Cory, who hadn't expected the ex-cop turned pub owner to have such a unique interest. Though Nick didn't share Cory's faith, Nick had a keen awareness of what it took to keep Holy Ground consecrated, and his belief in a higher power was stronger than Cory would have expected in a man born in the twentieth century. Cory was amused by the fact that Sanctuary, Nick's pub, was dedicated to Dionysus, thus ensuring it would remain Holy Ground.

Then too, Nick was, in Cory's eyes, gorgeous. He'd seen Nick naked, knew Nick had a rather interesting tattoo on his butt, knew that Nick was lightly furry all the way from his chest to his groin. Cory wanted to taste and lick every inch of that well-defined body. Cory had had male lovers in the past, and he preferred a strong, athletic, confident man. Nick was all of that.

Cory knew he'd wanted to be the one to make Nick happy from the day they'd met. He just hadn't thought he had a chance, given the dynamic he'd observed between Nick and Rich. Instead of warning Cory off, Rich had given his blessing and a warning to tread carefully. Coming to Torago, Nick's hometown, was part of Cory's attempt to do just that. 

It had been years since Cory had fallen for someone so quickly. He'd tried to put Nick on the "flirt but don't touch" list, but a week spent caring for the younger man had quickly derailed that attempt. Nick's gruffness at being denied caffeine for most of that week; his impatience over his body's slowness to heal; the way he'd put up with both Rich and Cory putting him in clothes he hadn't been able to see; and the way he'd laughed when he'd realized they'd gotten him to wear a T-shirt that supported a non-Chicago-area team, had all contributed to Cory's attraction to the man. 

If Nick had been anyone else, Cory knew he would have been content with an easy, no-strings-attached affair. Nick wasn't, though, and the instant flare of attraction Cory had felt on their first meeting had turned to something deeper. Now, Cory wanted Nick to love him without reservations. If Nick didn't return his feelings, Cory knew he'd end up heartbroken.

Needing to talk to someone before he did something he'd regret later, Cory drove to a nearby city park with a lake and parked before pulling out his phone. 

Matthew sounded amused when he answered. "Problem?" he drawled.

"Can't a man call an old friend?"

Matthew chuckled. "Oh, certainly. Where are you and how much is your bail?"

"I'm not in jail." To prove it, Cory held out his phone so his teacher could hear the annoyed quacking of the lake's resident Canadian geese. "I'm at a lake in a park in Torago." Cory let out a breath. "Nick is going to drive me crazy."

Matthew said nothing for a moment. "Have you told him how you feel?"

"Not yet."

"You've been there two weeks and he hasn't kicked you out yet. He's thinking." Matthew paused. "Are you? Because if you win Nick's heart, he's going to be fully committed to making sure you're happy, even if it means his honor, his name, and his life. If you die, he'll find a way to get the immortal who took your head – and he was willing to do that for Amanda _before_ he died the first time."

Cory started to reply, then stopped himself as he considered what that meant. "Damn it, Matthew. You couldn't get him to see how dangerous that is?"

"Oh, Nick knows. It's why he guards his heart, after all." 

Cory had instinctively recognized Nick as special, but he hadn't completely understood why. Now he knew. Cory had been raised in a time of chivalry, and that definition of courage, honor, and justice still resonated with him. "You did tell him that being a knight got you killed?"

"Oh, I did. He's stubborn, as you've seen."

Cory chuckled briefly. "It's part of his charm."

Matthew's voice turned hard. "Do let Nick know what you plan on doing next, Corwin, because he's expecting you to announce that you're planning on robbing the First National Bank of Torago, and that you need his help to execute the heist. If you were planning to do that, you wouldn't have called me."

Cory closed his eyes briefly, abruptly aware that he'd made a mistake. "I'll talk to Nick when he gets home." 

Matthew chuckled dryly. "Good. And Cory? Don't forget that he just took the worst Quickening of his life. He may still be off balance from that. He was a cop for more than a decade – longer than he's been one of us, and that Quickening forced him to dig deep." 

"I know," Cory said, annoyed at the reminder. "I was there, remember, when he was muttering in Russian, fighting that bastard off after the lightning was over. I just wish he could move past it faster."

Matthew sighed. "You could've refused his invitation and let him come to terms with it alone."

Cory didn't immediately reply. "I wasn't sure if he could handle being alone," he said softly. "He strikes me as a guy who needs people around."

"He does," Matthew agreed. "You weren't wrong on that, Cory. Go on, go talk to him. And call me sometime to actually chat, hmm?" 

With a rueful laugh, Cory hung up, then considered his next move. Starting up his motorcycle, Cory headed back to Nick's house and parked in the driveway. He hadn't gotten a house key from Nick and now rued his decision not to ask for one. Night was falling, the air was turning cool, and Cory hadn't put a warmer layer on underneath his leather jacket.


	5. Chapter 5

Nick arrived home half an hour later.

"You could've let yourself in," Nick noted after parking his motorcycle in the garage.

"I leave the residential B&E to Amanda and Rich," Cory said.

Nick glanced at him, hearing the edge of annoyance in Cory's voice. "No thrill in that kind of burglary?"

"There are better ways for an honest man to make a dishonest living," Cory replied.

"Like robbing banks?"

"And money transfer stores," Cory agreed. "I'm getting tired of you thinking because I'm a thief, I'm an idiot. I get enough of that from Duncan MacLeod; I don't want or need it from you." Cory sighed tiredly, wishing he could make Nick understand.

Nick closed the garage door and led the way inside the house to the living room before turning to face Cory. "Sorry," he apologized. "But if you'd been looking, you'd have seen that the garage door doesn't have a working lock."

Cory goggled at him before recovering and chuckling helplessly. "You had me thinking it was."

"No, it's been broken a while." Nick paused as he sat down on the couch. "And for the record, Cory: you're not in the same class of thief as Amanda. I don't think you ever could be."

Warily, Cory eyed Nick as he took a seat on the other end of the couch. "Why?"

"Because Amanda would have left for Majorca after rescuing me, assured that I was with someone who could handle whatever I needed. You – you stuck around, and you're here, and I'm being the idiot who wants to keep blaming every thief I ever met for the damage Amanda did." Nick let out a breath. "I'm sorry, Cory. I don't hate thieves. I hate one particular thief, but –" He sighed again. "Fighting Kyree after he took his own head forced me to revert to the person I used to be: judgmental and living a life in black and white. I swear I'm not that guy anymore. If I was, I'd have never gotten your knives and those blueprints for you – no matter how much Rich asked or how much you'd made it sound like you were interested in helping Bert with that security proposal. We wouldn't have even had that Skype call, and I wouldn't have asked you to be here with me now."

Hope flared within Cory at Nick's words, but he tempered it. "You're still processing that quickening."

Nick nodded. "Not as much as I was last week, but…yeah, I am. I wish I wasn't."

Cory closed the distance between them and hugged him gently. Nick let himself lean into that strength a moment before he pulled back. "I wondered if that was happening. You really didn't give yourself a whole lot of time before inviting me to come."

Nick let out a breath and nodded. "Pretending to be your boyfriend with that group today made me wish it was the truth, but I'm still not sure."

Cory had half-expected Nick to tell him that his interest was flattering but not wanted. Still, his words stung. "I don't know what to tell you. I'm getting tired of being held to some expectation you have about the integrity of a thief. I don't think your processing of that quickening is what's making you question my honor. You think I'm going to do something stupid and you're going to be stuck with the fallout. What do you think I'm going to do?"

"I just wish you wouldn't risk your life and run the risk of exposing us to the world," Nick began, only to stare as Cory laughed.

"Been there, done that," Cory told him. "In the 1920s, Amanda and I ran an interstate robbery scheme. They'd shoot us dead, Duncan would unbury us, and we'd move on to the next town and do it all over again. We made headlines in every paper in the country. Matthew was annoyed for a decade afterward -- and Duncan didn't forgive me for seventy years. Would I do it again? Only under the same set of circumstances, though maybe not with Mackie boy. He lost his sense of humor even before we started."

"I can't imagine why," Nick said dryly. "How in the world did you get away with it?"

"Nobody believed we could survive all that gunfire." Cory shrugged. "Besides, I made sure we lined our clothing and the vehicles with heavy leather and metal, so if anyone got really curious, they'd see we'd had some kind of bulletproofing. It wasn't perfect, but we just needed a plausible cover – and Duncan refused to help until we had something. He knew some people didn't believe in magic anymore." Cory chuckled at the memory. "I thought people needed to believe in it again."

"Is that why you did it?"

Now Cory narrowed his gaze. "I risked everything for a dream, Nick. I needed money to fund a trust – the kind of trust that would ensure that I wouldn't have to steal a damned thing ever again, that I could still fund the charities and orphanages that needed the most help and have enough to live on instead of scraping by like I'd been."

Nick's breath caught and his eyes widened as he realized the scope of that plan. "Didn't the stock market crash wipe you out?"

Cory shook his head. "No, but it was pretty dicey – I came too damn close the first time the market crashed because I didn't want to listen to someone older, wiser, and more experienced."

"So you managed to keep this trust alive through the years. I figure most of us who live past a hundred have to have money, jewels, and art stashed somewhere. So?" Nick lounged against the arm of the couch, looking as if he'd expected such planning from an older immortal.

"This is more than just a personal fund, Nick. I should've told you that I'm the president of the Locksley Greene Foundation, also known as the LG Foundation."

Nick stared at him. The LG Foundation had become known for its mysterious grants to deserving charities all around the world. "So why were you planning a heist with Rich two weeks ago?" he asked, confused.

"Because it's fun and sometimes worthy causes come up unexpectedly?" Cory offered. "Let me make something very clear, Nick. I don't need to steal to keep a roof over my head, food in my mouth, and gas in my motorcycle. Nor am I going to change who I am for anyone, Nick. I've been me too damn long, but I will concede that I need to do something different. I think you're about due for that kind of change as well."

"Yeah," Nick agreed. More slowly, he added, "I haven't been a cop in thirteen years. I've been a security consultant, a pub owner, a friend of thieves, a sometime lover of a sometime thief, and there's very little 'cop' left in who I am now. I was going to take this winter to figure out who the hell I want to be next."

Cory pursed his lips as hope built higher within him. "I don't suppose 'thief' is on that list?" he asked with a mischievous grin.

Nick stared at him for a moment before chuckling ruefully. "No. I'd rather not have to dodge the cops."

"Fair enough," Cory conceded. "So what are you thinking you're going to do?"

Nick exhaled slowly. "Figure out where I want to move to, what I'm going to do when I get there, and where I'm going to live." He met Cory's eyes. "I hear Virginia's pretty this time of year."

"Don't move there just because of me," Cory said instantly. "You need alternates. You have the whole world where you could live, which, fortunately for you, is not limited to a radius of ten miles or the whole of England."

Nick chuckled. "You make it sound like you hate England. Aren't you technically English?"

"Nick, the king of England once put a bounty on my head," Cory noted dryly. "Loyalty to king and country goes out the window when he's ordered you dead."

"That makes sense. You've always tried to help others?"

"Always," Cory agreed. He looked at Nick seriously. "That said, wherever you go, Nick, I'd like to come with you."

Surprised, Nick looked at him. "You'd do that?"

"I'm scouting locations for a permanent home for the LG foundation, so I can then host a proper fundraiser," Cory admitted.

"Not going to fund it all yourself?"

Cory shook his head. "Not this time. As you and Rich have both pointed out, the security technology's getting to a point where if I want to continue to be a thief, I'm going to need to plan better. That takes time and money. I can't sit still and do nothing – it's not in my nature. No, it's time to do something legal for a while."

Nick considered this a moment. "Won't running that foundation put you in the spotlight?"

Cory grinned. "I never said I didn't crave attention."

Nick groaned, but Cory's comment made him wonder. "Would any kind of attention do?"

Cory leaned forward and kissed him sweetly. "No, I'm not trying to be with you because I'm lonely and need someone to pay attention to me," he said, drawing back. "I haven't been that desperate in centuries. I want you because I'm in love with you. You're sexy, smart, strong, and stubborn – and I love that about you."

Caught off guard, Nick stared at him. "You..." He stopped and started again. "You're not giving up being a thief just because of me?"

"I've been discussing this with Rich for the last year," Cory told him with a slight roll of his shoulders. "His project to watch the Watchers made me think hard about what I've been doing and how I've been doing it. Besides that, Matthew's been on my case to do something other than see my name plastered on the 'Most Wanted' list for centuries." He shrugged. "Since I'd rather not take a job from someone who actually needs the money…."

"You, sir, are more honorable than you led me to believe that first day I met you."

Cory chuckled. "I didn't want you to look too deeply that day," he admitted. "Figured you'd be fun to flirt with, but I didn't think we'd get too far. I wasn't entirely convinced you and Rich weren't involved."

Nick nodded. "I was just planning on dropping off what you'd requested, spend some time with Rich, maybe see Matthew, and play tourist in DC, then head home. Didn't think I'd want company once I got here." He paused and took Cory's hands. "I'm glad you're here, Cory." He met Cory's gaze and asked, "You said you love me. If I said I wasn't ready for more than something casual, would you be okay with that?"

Cory studied him a moment. "Not if you think that's somehow going to mitigate how you feel. I've seen how you act with Rich, and if he called up in the next five minutes and said he needed help, you'd give it in a heartbeat. You may not be in love with him, but you care deeply about your friends."

Nick chuckled ruefully.

"Then what is it you want from me? I thought you just wanted a chance at my heart. The way you acted earlier at the restaurant, it felt like I was already your lover and we were working on forever."

Cory met Nick's eyes and grasped his hands tightly before letting go. "Working on forever with you is what I want," he said quietly. "I'm greedy that way. I love you and I want you to be my lover and my friend. I'm not asking you to declare your love for me right now. I want you to say it when you're ready, not because you think I need to hear it. But I've gotten to know you pretty well the last few weeks and I think I'm a lot closer than I used to be."

"You are," Nick said with a nod. "I'm scared, Cory. The last time I tried loving someone forever, it fell apart. Amanda didn't understand there are some lines I won't cross. I'll do a lot of things to protect my friends, but I won't steal a Quickening or be so self-interested that I fail to see how I'm hurting other people. I know the other part of why it fell apart was because I kept trying to fix what she'd done, or tried to protect her. She wanted me to stop caring so damn much, so she eventually started hiding what she was doing."

Nick paused. "I thought maybe it was her, but when I tried again with someone else, he decided his career mattered more than me. Made me wonder if I was doing something wrong, but being with Rich – even with the casual arrangement we had – showed me that it wasn't entirely my fault. Even so, I'm afraid I'll make the same stupid mistakes again, only with you this time." Worried, Nick looked at Cory. "I want this with you. You make me think we can have forever, together, but I don't want to screw it up."

Cory was silent a moment. "The only way we'll work, Nick, is if we keep talking to each other. I'm not going to hide what I'm doing, and I fully expect you to do the same. I don't want you going off half-cocked, trying to be my hero. If what happened to you had happened to Rich, would you have asked for help?"

"From you? Maybe not – I didn't know you that well then, but from Matthew, sure. I've learned a few things since I was involved with Amanda, like how not to go chasing after trouble." Nick looked at Cory. "I can't promise I won't want to defend you, because I will."

"Wanting is fine; doing it – we'll need to talk," Cory cautioned.

"Fine, then I'll expect the same from you." Nick looked at Cory as he nodded acceptance of those terms. "If you're willing to be honest with me, then, yes, I want to be your friend and your lover."

Cory leaned forward and kissed him slowly, tenderly. "I accept."

The tension Nick had been carrying over his worry that Cory wouldn't accept what he was willing to give eased. Eagerly, he returned Cory's kiss, deepening it, letting free the desire he'd been keeping under wraps. From the enthusiastic way Cory responded, Nick knew Cory, too, had been holding back. Cory ended the kiss, his breathing ragged as he pulled back. "I want our first time to be in a bed," he declared huskily, "but it's too soon."

Nick groaned in frustration. "It's not," he denied. "Why?"

"Because," and now Cory smiled, "I haven't taken you out to dinner yet."

"Dinner can wait," Nick growled, and pounced. He knew what he wanted, knew he'd already given Cory his heart, and he wasn't going to let Cory make him wait anymore. Nick took Cory's lips then, hot and rough. Cory opened his mouth to gasp in surprise and Nick shoved his tongue into Cory's mouth. For a moment, Cory held still, but Nick wasn't taking no for an answer. He wanted to make Cory forget all his objections, wanted to make him lose control. Nick tangled the fingers of one hand around Cory's neck and pulled Cory closer to him with his other hand.

Cory made a sound in the back of his throat, and met the plundering kiss with equal passion. Nick whimpered as he allowed Cory to drink greedily from his lips while giving Nick so much pleasure that his knees went weak and heat surged down his spine. Cory slid a hand down Nick's back to grab his ass. Nick groaned, thrusting his now-hard cock against the front of Cory's pants. He wanted Cory to touch and taste him.

Cory's eyes glittered with arousal as he pulled back and he was breathing hard. "Bedroom," he agreed, and led the way upstairs.

* * *

Nick woke to find Cory watching him steadily. Guessing his new lover was waiting to see if he had any regrets or would panic, Nick deliberately stretched, taking as much space as he could before snaking an arm around Cory to pull him closer so that Nick could kiss him. Chuckling, Cory let himself be pulled into Nick's arms, partially supporting himself so that Nick didn't bear all of his weight, then met the kiss halfway.

"So what do you want to do today?" Cory asked, pulling back before their embrace could get too heated.

Nick met his gaze. "More of what we did last night," Nick told him, thrusting up gently. "Unless you had other plans?"

"I could think of a few things," Cory teased.

"Let me guess, the food bank is in desperate need of volunteers," Nick said dryly. "You've promised them you'd bring a friend."

Cory feigned surprise. "You won't help?"

Nick laughed. "Of course I'll help, but not today. Today the rest of the world can fuck off."

"Is that so?"

"Yes," Nick agreed. He kissed his new lover gently. "Outside of this room, we have all the responsibilities of who we are. I'd just like one day where it's you and me, and this new thing we have."

Cory studied him seriously. "We can make those days happen anytime, Nick."

"I know," Nick said. "But we'll never have this day again."

"True," Cory said huskily. He rose slightly to study Nick, naked under him. "What do you want first?"

Nick shuddered and let out a breath. "You let me take the lead last night," he said carefully. "I like what we did, but…" He hesitated, aware that Cory had been careful, safe even, as he'd tried to gauge the depth of Nick's experience and comfort level. "If I said I want to let go and let you take me, would you?"

"Depends," Cory said. "How far do you want to go?"

"Not into the place where we're talking safe words and that sort of thing," Nick replied hastily. "Just… I won't break if you decide to let go of that control of yours. I was doing everything I could to make you lose it last night, and you made me feel cherished instead."

"That a bad thing?"

"No. I liked it; I just…" Nick shook his head and tried to bring Cory closer. "Damn it, Cory, I want to suck you and get you ready to fuck me. I want you inside me. I liked being in you, but the reverse is what I like best. I like it a little rougher than we did last night, too."

Nick saw the understanding flash across his lover's face before Cory kissed him and then rolled them so Nick was on top. Grinning, Nick took his cue.


	6. Chapter 6

"Everything okay, Rich?" Nick asked worriedly six weeks later. Rich had long ago made a habit of calling him every two weeks; Nick's kidnapping had only served to reinforce that habit.

"Didn't mean to worry you," Rich said apologetically as he sat in his apartment. "But I fried my phone a week ago and I wasn't in any shape to think about getting a new one until yesterday."

"How bad was it?"

Rich rolled his shoulders. "It was two on one, and I was the one," he said tiredly. "Mac showed up just in time for the cleanup." Rich took a breath. "He got the brunt of my bad mood after."

Nick chuckled dryly. He remembered what Rich was like after taking a head. In the three years Rich had spent in Nick's employ in Paris, Rich had fought his share of challenges. "And he's still talking to you?"

"Dojo renovations are on schedule, finally. We might be able to open in January at this rate." Rich paused. "I didn't take that challenge to get his attention or his respect, but I've got it now. I tried taking a page out of your book, Nick, but they weren't willing to sit down, have a beer, and fight another day. Maybe it only works when the nearest bar is on Holy Ground." Rich laughed humorlessly. "Ten years ago, I wanted Mac's respect so bad. Now I've got it, I have no clue what to do with it." He shook his head. "Where's Cory?"

"Helping out at the food bank."

"You didn't want to go?"

"Turns out it's not my thing," Nick said easily. "We helped out at the Boys and Girls Club yesterday; that nearly broke my heart. I didn't know the soup company closed its plant here two years ago, and people are still out of work."

"Yeah, well, budget cuts never go out of style," Rich said. "I'm sure the kids appreciated the attention you gave them."

Nick nodded. "Cory was like the Pied Piper with them. It was pretty amazing."

Rich chuckled. "I've seen him," he agreed. "He always insisted on going to a Boys and Girls Club or a local orphanage no matter where we went. Made me wish he'd been around when I was in the system. I might've stuck around a little more." Rich shrugged. "Least I can do now is to be that guy I didn't have."

"Did you do it before you met Cory?" Nick wondered.

"A little," Rich admitted. "Tried to help the guys I hung around with when Mac and Connor found me, but –" he shrugged. "It wasn't one of my better ideas."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Eh, I was eighteen and so naïve about a lot of things," Rich said with a shrug. "So besides helping save the world, how are you two doing?"

Nick smiled. "I put the house on the market yesterday, and we've decided on Oregon."

"Just make sure Cory stays out of Seacouver," Rich said. "The cops here still want to arrest him."

"For what?"

"What else?" Rich said, his grin widening. "Armored car heist a few years ago." Rich hesitated a moment before asking, "Are you okay with what Cory does? I know he's making you happy in bed; you've lost that tense look you get when you haven't gotten –"

Nick groaned as he realized the problem with having a best friend who'd also been his lover: there were no secrets left. He shot Rich an annoyed glare. "Oh, okay, we'll pretend I didn't just say that," Rich said hastily. "But really, Nick, are you happy with Cory?"

"I am," Nick said. "He makes living fun again. There's a lot he could care less about, but for the things he cares about, he's fully committed. I thought I was the only one who did that sort of thing; he just takes it to another level." He paused. "And he's planning a Valentine's Day fundraiser in Portland for his foundation."

Rich whistled softly. "Cory's really gonna do it this time, then."

"This time?" Nick looked at Rich.

Rich chuckled softly at a memory. "He told me once that the LG Foundation was his pie-in-the-sky dream, and that if he ever retired from being a thief, he was going to get serious about running that."

Nick stared at his friend, more than a little stunned at that piece of news. "He didn't say anything to me about that. He just said he'd decided it was time to do something different."

Rich said nothing for a moment, then, "Well, he'd be doing something respectable and lawful for a change. You like it when your guy is doing something you can be proud of."

"Yeah, but – and I can't believe I'm saying this – what happens when a thief like Cory gets bored being lawful? I saw what it did to Amanda. Her heists got riskier."

"Then you go somewhere that isn't your home base, and plan, plan, plan," Rich said sharply. "But talk about it first, damn it. Amanda tends to listen only to what she wants to hear. Cory isn't like that. If you don't know that by now, you haven't been paying attention."

"I know that," Nick said, annoyed. "But – if Cory is really retiring from being a thief, who'd he pass that knowledge on to…." Nick stopped as he watched Rich's grin widen. "Rich, no. Please tell me you're not planning on taking up where Cory left off."

Rich's grin widened, and he let Nick hang for a minute before he broke into a laugh. "Relax, Nick. Sheez, you can take the cop out of the force, and he's still a cop in his head, more than a decade later. I'm not going to do anything crazy. I like not having to look over my shoulder, wondering if today's the day I'm gonna get arrested – and knowing my luck, the cop arresting me would be Matthew, and that's one interrogation I never want to go through, okay? If there's anything I learned in the last three years, it's that I'm a better thief when I have a partner to keep me focused. Otherwise, everything is 'ooh, shiny, I could steal that too!'"

Nick chuckled, aware that Rich was sometimes easily distracted. "But you're not going to be a thief anytime soon, I hope?"

Rich shook his head. "No. Mac and I are getting along, and he's…settled. More settled than I remember him being. Not saying I still won't head for the hills if he starts acting weird again, but… it's not the insanity it was, with challenges every week. Those two hunters were the first ones we've seen since I moved here, and they were both after me. I think they thought I was an easy target."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Just because you look young doesn't mean you are, when you're one of us. I'm sure you've heard of Kenny?"

"If I ever meet him again, he's dead," Rich vowed. "He may look like he's ten years old, but there's an old man in that body, and he's a scheming bastard who almost got me killed." Shaking his head, Rich changed the subject. "So have you figured out what you're going to do while Cory's busy with his foundation?"

"I thought I'd see about opening another pub," Nick said. "I haven't lived out there so I have no idea what would work."

"If you had a good coffeehouse, with a bookstore in the back, you could probably do just as well," Rich suggested. "And by good, I mean good coffee, not some regional or national brand, and a place for the telecommuters to work, a kids' area, and maybe some entertainment. Get your liquor license, set up a wine bar, and you'd be set."

"I don't know," Nick said doubtfully. "Like I said, I want to see what's there first, and maybe take it one step better. I know I'm going to consecrate whatever it is; I got used to the way things are in Paris."

"Talk to Cory," Rich advised. "He'll want some way to fund the foundation that's legal, and not entirely dependent on that trust fund of his. If your business is part of that, that'll keep you connected to what he's doing without having to feel like you're obligated to do more."

Not for the first time, Nick appreciated Rich's business sense and his insight into people. "Yeah, I figured whatever I did would need to be something Cory could be involved in too. I learned that one the hard way when my marriage broke up. Sure you don't want to work for me again, Rich? Hell, I'd hire you to just stand there and pass out flyers. Your talent is wasted trying to get that dojo off the ground."

Rich chuckled. "Flattery will get you everywhere, my friend, including my bed, but you're taken, and I don't poach."

Nick glared at him, though without heat. "If you did that sort of shit, you and I wouldn't still be friends."

"If you tolerated that kind of shit from your friends, I'd kick your ass," Rich told him. "But I'll be the first to admit I don't want to be a dojo manager forever."

"I can't see you being one," Nick said dryly. "What was it you said once about it? Too many bills and too many people who think they should get a discount?"

Rich acknowledged that with a short laugh and a nod. "Yeah, but I promised Mac I'd help him through the spring. Maybe next summer I can come down to Portland, see where you need help?" He grew serious. "You do realize there'll be a point where Cory will want to be a thief again?"

"I know," Nick said calmly. "And I'm okay with that. He's not changing who he is. Neither am I. I'm just changing what I do and where, and so is he. Amanda and I kept trying to change each other, and towards the end, I wound up being someone I wasn't just to try and make her happy." Nick sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have, but I did anyway, hoping it would keep her by my side. Matthew tried to warn me I was being an idiot, but –" Nick shrugged. "I didn't want to believe him."

"And if he thought you and Cory were a bad idea?" Rich wondered.

Nick eyed his friend. "Matthew's opinion matters, but I haven't let it rule everything I do, and I'm not about to start now. I think the better question is: do you? You've known Cory longer than I have."

Rich didn't answer right away. "I don't think you two are a bad idea. I just think you're gonna butt heads sometime. Cory doesn't always think to check what else might interfere with his plans. You, my friend, lead with your heart, even when you think you know better. I'm happy for both of you – but if you have a fight, don't ask me to mediate. I care about both of you too much to be a neutral party."

"Fair enough," Nick agreed wryly. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," Rich said with a nod. "Has he asked you if you're interested in a threesome yet?"

Nick sputtered. "Rich!"

"I'll take that as a 'no', then." Rich looked amused. "What? Did he not tell you he's flexible?"

"There's flexible and then there's how the hell do you know that about him?"

Rich chuckled. "Oh, the usual way: he asked me." Rich paused. "You look scandalized. Huh, I could've sworn we talked about this, but that look you're giving me says no. You're older than me. You've never considered that option? Never had that fantasy?"

Nick managed a strangled sound. "No. I barely dated any guys because I was too afraid of being seen as different. I didn't want to fuck up getting a scholarship; I thought I was supposed to fall for a girl, marry her, and have kids. I never thought about making kinky sex fantasies into reality. Hell, just falling for a guy back then scared the crap out of me. Wasn't until I'd lost my scholarship I decided to say fuck it and see what I'd been missing."

"Well, you're a long way from then," Rich pointed out, sounding far more comfortable with the idea than Nick liked. "And you did tell me you liked being with guys more."

Nick groaned again. "Please tell me you told Cory no."

"Of course I told him no," Rich said, looking insulted. "I like my love life uncomplicated, thank you very much, and that would just feel weird. Cory's too much like a brother to me."

"Thanks, I think," Nick said dryly. He made a mental note to discuss that particular topic with Cory.

Rich flashed a quick smile. "Changing the subject: the Quickening of that bastard who kidnapped you – is it still bothering you?"

Nick shook his head. "Not anymore. Rich, I'm happy, I'm in love, and I owe you."

Rich looked startled. "For what?"

"For introducing me to Cory."

Rich grinned. "You're welcome. Just do me one favor?"

"Name it."

"Call Matthew and get him to stop worrying about me? I swear I feel like he's adopted me or something."

Nick laughed. "I'll try," he promised. "He probably has, though, so I might be too late."

Rich groaned. "Great. Now I know who I'll be talking to next."

"Have fun with that," Nick advised, amused and a little relieved he wasn't the one under the scrutiny of the immortal cop who'd been his teacher.

"Just for that, I'll tell Matthew he should check on you," Rich threatened.

Nick laughed. "Hardly a threat. I owe him a phone call anyway." Nick felt the sensation of another immortal a few seconds before he heard the garage door open. "I'll let you go – Cory and I have plans for dinner."

Amused, Rich said, "Enjoy. Next time, I want to talk to both of you, okay?"

"Will do. Take care, Rich." Nick disconnected the call just as Cory called out, "It's me."

Nick rose from his position on the couch to greet his lover with a kiss. Cory glowed with the satisfaction of having been able to help his adopted community, but he batted away Nick's hands when he tried to help Cory out of his leather jacket.

"Not yet," Cory said with a laugh. "Come on, I want to show you this gorgeous old Packard this guy has in his garage. We could take it to Portland with us and work on it together."

"Cory, it's freezing out there," Nick complained. "You promised we'd spend the rest of the day inside, where it's warm." Deliberately, Nick pulled Cory closer, letting him feel the press of their groins.

Cory looked torn, and Nick surmised he'd promised someone he'd check out the antique car that afternoon. Undoubtedly, whoever it was needed the cash in some way. "Call whoever has it and tell them we'll see them tomorrow," Nick said huskily, dropping his hands down to work on the fly to Cory's jeans. "I have plans for us this afternoon."

Cory didn't have to be asked twice. "Well, I didn't say I'd be right there," he allowed, and let himself be seduced into staying in for a little while longer.

Both men knew the road forward was not going to be easy, but for the moment, they were going to enjoy exploring what they had together.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Rhi and Sam, for all the things you did to make this story better. Any remaining mistakes are mine.


End file.
